Community Engagement Research Core

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

CERC Summary/Abstract The Community Engagement Research Core (CERC) supports research with older adults at all stages including training, design, conduct, and dissemination. CERC provides recruitment support to OAIC projects through its community and long-term care (LTC) registries, leverages the substantial resources of existing large population studies, promotes state-of-the-art clinical assessments, and fosters study adherence and retention. The Core provides pre-award planning, design consultation, and training to investigators. Its community engagement studios and Community Advisory Board (CAB) allow older adults to guide the design, conduct, and dissemination of research. CERC promotes partnerships between the Pitt OIAC research community, older adults, and our community aging services network. In the last 4 years, CERC supported seven pilot and two DPs. Our support contributed to 5 newly funded grants (2 R01s, 1 K01, 1 VA CDA, 2 VA pilot awards). CERC supported over 67 external projects using the Pepper community registry and 7 using the LTC registry. The CERC SMART Center provided clinical research space for 12 pilot and EPs. Our CAB continues to foster community engagement and dissemination, stakeholder involvement, and guidance for OAIC activities. In a funded Inter-NIA Center/CTSA Hub project to support inclusion of older adults in research (2022-24), CERC developed the Pitt OAIC Community Engagement Studio (CES) model to train a panel of older adults in research protections, who were then able to advise PIs from 16 research studies on age-friendly research practices and outcomes important to older people. In the renewal we will 1) Increase usability of our LTC and Community Registries by streamlining web access and oversight, and expanding recruitment, 2) Extend our prior DP involving automated coding of environmental data relevant for outdoor ambulation and add this resource to CERC research resources, 3) Provide access and exposure to the Pitt Healthy Home Lab whose primary mission is to create and implement new technology solutions and support services that enable older adults to live independently and safely at home and 4) Implement a developmental project to improve unobtrusive sensing of competence in the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Leadership of the Core continues with Dr. Steven M. Albert and Dr. Andrea Rosso, who will co-direct and lead our developmental project.